An Oriental Medicine doctor claims that wild cultivated ginseng may be the key to health and longevity.

Dr. Park Chi-wan of Kyung Hee Sungsin Oriental Medicine Hospital in Seoul said that a special extract from the root is effective against cancer and some other diseases. He said the combination of extract injections, extract pills and a proper diet could increase the survival rate of cancer patients, and have an anti-aging effect.

Whether his claims will be acknowledged by mainstream medical circles is still questionable, but the doctor said he has enough field data to prove his theory. He said he sees more than 100 cancer patients a day with a considerable number of them thanking him for easing their pain.

He said there is a simple mechanism to all the treatments. ``Cancers or other major sicknesses are usually aging diseases. You get old, your body organs do not function as well as they did when you were young. However, by injecting the saponin, one's body can go back to the days where you were young and healthy, when you had self-healing power inside you. So you get healed,'' he said.

Park and Sangji University research team found that mice injected with saponin tend to have better hair texture and color; move well and see better. They also found that when injected into the bloodstream it was found with various proteins to work as an antioxidant.

He said he recently decided not to accept payment for the treatment of patients unless they live longer than initially diagnosed, or will give refunds to family members if they die during treatment or live less than their Western medical doctors predicted.